Florida Atlantic University’s Center for Body, Mind, and Culture, in collaboration with the Center for Cosmopolitan Culture, invites papers for the conference “Bodies of Culture: Somaesthetic Explorations,” to be held November 6–7, 2026, at FAU’s Boca Raton campus. The conference explores how different cultures shape the human body and somatic experience, examining the ways bodies are understood, cultivated, adorned, represented, and experienced across religious, historical, national, artistic, and social contexts through the lens of somaesthetics. Selected papers may be considered for publication in The Journal of Somaesthetics or in the Brill book series Studies in Somaesthetics. Proposals should include a paper title, a 250–450-word abstract, a CV, and contact information. Submission deadline: August 18, 2026.

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Kaila Witkowski, School of Public Administration
Title: Picturing Destruction: cultural and ethical challenges in using visual methods in disaster recovery research

Yakov Ellenbogen, Department of History
Title: Disabling the Jewish Body: Circumcision, Ideology, and Social Experience in Medieval Ashkenaz

Ziona Kocher, Department of English
Title: Garrick in a Dress: Flipping the Script on Theatrical Cross-dressing Mid-Century

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Gerald Sim: School of Communication and Multimedia Studies
Title: Never Let a Crisis Go Away: How Ontopower Explains the Persistence of Big Tech’s China Argument

Carissa Ma: Department of English
Title: On the Mend: Disability and the Biopolitics of Care in Hon Lai-chu’s Mending Bodies.

Mehrdad Sedaghat: Department of Visual Arts and Art History
Title: A Typographic Journey: From Script to Aura

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Florida Atlantic University’s Center for Body, Mind, and Culture, in collaboration with the Center for Cosmopolitan Culture, invites papers for the conference “Atmospheres of the Spiritual,” to be held December 4–5, 2025, at FAU’s Boca Raton campus. Building on last year’s “Somaesthetics of Atmosphere” event, the conference explores how spiritual atmospheres—experienced through ritual, art, nature, and human connection—affect body, mind, and environment. Scholars from the humanities, social sciences, and arts are welcome to contribute, with selected papers considered for publication in The Journal of Somaesthetics or the Brill series Studies in Somaesthetics.

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Laura Fretwell: Assistant Professor of History
Title: Commemoration versus Community: The Establishment of the National Park Service’s Chimborazo Medical Museum in Richmond, Virginia in the 1950s

Stacey Balkan: Associate Professor of English
Title: Bicycling in Paradise: On Radical Cadence and Just Futures in the End Times

David Medina: Assistant Professor of English
Title: Branded: Books, Bodies, and The Metonymic Marca De Fuego

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